CluenexIngredion INGR
Ingredion scores weak on business quality (4.4 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Ingredion does
Ingredion turns corn, tapioca, and potatoes into starches, sweeteners, and ingredients for food and beverage makers. Food brands pay them to texture and stabilize products.
- What it does best
Ingredion delivers a gross margin of 23.7%, beating peer ADM at 6.9%. This reflects deep customer integration in customized texture formulation that clients cannot easily swap out without changing their own recipes.
- The main risk
Revenue contraction of 2.8% threatens volume scale as overall demand slips. If top-line erosion accelerates, fixed-cost absorption worsens and squeezes operating margins.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 12.9% and net margin at 8.2%, showing stable profitability. However, the low 3.7 score highlights persistent pressure on returns and margins.
Customer switching costs form its moat, locking in food manufacturers who rely on custom ingredients. Its gross margin sits in the sector's lower quartile at 24th percentile.
Revenue growth sits at -2.8% with revenue dropping to $7.2 billion from $8.2 billion in 2023, showing a fading top-line trend across annual periods.
Debt-to-equity of 0.4x and net debt of $757 million keep the balance sheet manageable, while free cash flow of $355 million supports safety, getting softer.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
1 sold $170K outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on INGR
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Ingredion scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (4.4 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth slow and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $170K outside pre-planned sales.
Nov 2, 2026, before the open.
See INGR today
- Today's verdict on INGR, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Ingredion (INGR)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/ingr/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.